Black Hills 2006

Black Hills 2006

Black Hills 2006

This morning we road an 1880 steam locomotive from Hill City to Keystone. Keystone is a small town at the base of Mt. Rushmore. It is pretty much of a tourist trap with a lot of motels, restaurants and gift stores. The train ride was pretty neat. We traveled through about 20 miles of forest and mountains. Some of the grades were fairly steep. The cars on the railroad were all antiques and came from all over the US. We all enjoyed the trip.

Tuesday: A Visit to Mt. Rushmore

This morning we visited Mt. Rushmore. In all the years we have been coming to the Black Hills to snowmobile we have never seen Mt. Rushmore before this morning. It's quite a sight to see it as you come around the side of the mountain. The new buildings that were recently constructed compliment the carvings a great deal. We visited Borglums studio and saw a number of photos and a film of the project in different phases. The girls talked us into hiking up to the base of the mountain, all 250 steps.

In the afternoon we drove through Custer State Park. Over the 35 miles we traversed we experienced winding roads, 5 narrow tunnels, rock spires shooting into the sky and 3 herds of buffalo. The last herd we saw were on both sides of the road and numbered over 500. We parked within feet of several grazing by the road. With the top down on the jeep it was quite thrilling.

Monday In the Badlands

We made it to the Badlands and boy are they magnificent! We spent the better part of the day driving the 30 mile road through the center and hiking along many of the trails and ridges. There is a great film in the visitors center that explains alot about the area. We finished up around 2pm and headed to Wall Drug for lunch. This place was gigantic. They sell everything you can imagine except furniture.

Sunday June 25th Departure to Black Hills

We are on the road again. This time our two grandchildren, Paige and Emily have joined us. We departed Des Moines around 8am. After lunch in Sioux City, Iowa we drove to Mitchell, S.D. to see the world famous CORN PALACE. We have passed by this area numerous times and people always ask us if we saw the Corn Palace. Now we have. For those who are unaware, it started as an exhibition hall in the 1800's to highlight the crop of the area. It has been rebuilt several times, the last time was 1927. It's not actually built from corn, but uses a dozen or so varieties to form giant murals on the outside and inside walls. Today the facility is used for exhibitions, basketball and civic performances. We spent the night at a campground in Murdo S.D. Monday we head for the Badlands and Wall Drug

San Antonio Convention

For those who have been following our exploits your probably wondering why we haven't posted to this site lately. Well, we arrived at our last stop, San Antonio on Sunday evening. This is the site of the Roto-Rooter Franchisee Convention. They asked me to stop by to say goodbye to everyone in the association. We have been playing golf, attending receptions and visiting the spa for the last several days. It's been fun to visit with the many franchisees I have worked with over the last 32 years. The convention ends on Friday evening with a dinner dance and awards ceremony. We'll be heading back to Des Moines on Saturday morning and hope to arrive late Sunday evening or Monday morning. We are anxious to see everyone, especially the kids and grandkids.

Cleaning Day

It was a nice relaxing day for us in Kerrville Texas. After sleeping in late from being out dancing last night we spent a couple of hours cleaning the motorhome. It really needed it as we have been living in it for the last six weeks. We had done some cleaning as needed but the dust storm we came through last week deposited a layer throughout the entire coach. Then it was on to wash the clothes and lie by the pool to soak up some rays. Kathy made an excellent crock pot meal and we finished with a bowl of ice cream. Not too adventurous.

Kerrville Texas

We arrived in Kerrville Texas around 1pm after a 4 hour drive from Ft. Stockton. Boy what a difference in the scenery. We left the desert environment with high plateaus and two hours later we entered the green hill country of central Texas. Kerrville is a very nice town of 15,000 along the banks of the Guadalupe River, about 60 miles west of San Antonio. We are staying at Guadalupe River RV Resort on the banks of the river. It’s a wonderful resort, maybe the nicest we have visited. This campground was recommended by our friends Doug and Diana Harper, whom we visited last month in Phoenix. They have stayed in Kerrville numerous times on their trips between Phoenix and Pinehurst. We also took their advice on restaurants and were rewarded with an excellent prime rib buffet. Following dinner we learned of a concert in the park to celebrate Kerrville’s 150th year as a city. The country western concert got the juices flowing so we finished off the evening listening to a country band and watching the different dancers at a western bar. It’s amazing, the more we drank the better the band sounded.

Carlsbad Cavern Tour

Friday April 7, 2006
Carlsbad Caverns must be seen to be appreciated. We descended into the cavern via the natural entrance that was discovered in 1800’s. Jim White was the first to venture into the caverns and begin its mapping. The length and size of the cavern is unbelievable. It’s over 30 miles long and the big room we descended into could fit 6 football fields in it. Here are a couple of pictures, but they don’t do it justice.

After 3 hours of touring we departed for Ft Stockton, Texas. We are staying in a Walmart parking lot along with 5 other motorhomrs. Walmart permits overnight stays. Because they are open 24 hours it is cinsidered a very safe place to stay. The only drawback is not hookups.
Tomorrow we head for Kerrville, Texas for a couple days of rest in this resort area.

On to Carlsbad

Thursday April 6, 2006
We decided against going across the border into Juarez, Mexico. It would be mostly shopping areas for shirts and trinkets, similar to other border towns we have been through. After reading the guide book about Carlsbad Caverns we decided to stay at White’s City. It was right at the entrance to the park property and sounded pretty good. We registered at the hotel and drove down the street to the camping area. It looked like and abandoned parking lot. There were only two other vehicles in the part. We had our pick from 200 open sites. Not a very nice campground compared to the others we had visited. Oh well, live and learn. Tomorrow we tour Carlsbad Caverns.

Travel Day

Wednesday April 5, 2006

We departed for El Paso late this morning. The wind came up and dust was blowing across the road making it very difficult to see what was up ahead. The signs along I-10 warned of the possibility of zero visibility when the wind was blowing but it was hard to imagine until we experienced it. There were warnings not to stop for fear that someone would run into the back of your vehicle. We just slowed to 20-30 and tried to look ahead as far as possible. Later in the evening we heard they closed I-10 form the Arizona border to Las Cruces, about 175 mile stretch.

Arizona Desert Museum

Today we visited the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum. There are over 1,300 species of plants indigenous to the Sonoran Desert to view along the two miles of paths that we walked today. There are also over 300 live species of animals. We saw a number of species including, Prairie Dogs, Javelina (like a pig), Rattlers, Mountain Lions, coyotes, etc. There was also a flying demonstration by the Hawk shown in the photo. It is a gorgeous area and shows the real beauty of the Sonoran Desert.

The sunset photo was taken at our campground from the roof of our motorhome.

A Ride through Tucson

We kicked off the day with a 12 mile bike ride on the Santa Cruz River trail that runs past the city. The trail is 14ft wide blacktop trail on both sides of the river. Kathy questioned it being called a river since there was no water in it. We have seen what happens when it rains, these ditches or rivers as they call them, quickly fill with water. There is no grass or even weeds for that matter along the trail. Very little grows here without irrigation.

Following lunch we went to Old Town artisans and looked through the stores at the pottery, jewelry and other Indian crafts from the area.

Upon our return we had a new neighbor to the west of us. Dick and his wife are from Manhattan, Kansas and just returned from 3 weeks in Mexico. They went with a tour service that hauls you and your motor coach deep into the heart of Mexico on flat bed railcar for a 17 day tour. Upon their return they bought a new 45ft Country Coach, list price $565,000. It is beautiful!

Tomorrow we are going to tour the Desert Museum.

85 Degrees in Tucson

This morning we attended mass at Mission San Xavier Del Bac in the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. The mission built in 1793 by the Franciscans is currently undergoing renovation. It is an impressive example of Spanish mission architecture. The domes, carvings, arches and flying buttresses distinguish it from the other missions in the area. For lunch we partook in Indian Tacos and fried bread being served in the courtyard outside the mission. Later in the afternoon we laid by the pool at our resort and soaked up the sun.

Freebe at the Casino

Last night we stayed at the Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde. It is at the top of the hill behind our motorhome. We heard that there was a fish fry with snow crabs and a drawing for a new red Porsche Boxster convertible. We were feeling lucky so we went for both. Unfortunately we didn't experience either one. The seafood was a buffet and looked bad and the Boxster drawing eluded us. If we had won, we were going to flip a coin as to which of the three kids would get it. Ha! Ha! Well at least the camping was free.

Today we drove to Tucson. We are staying at the Beaudry RV Resort. It is beautiful campground with all the amenities, great restaurant, bar, pool, hot tub, exercise room, laundry and full hookups. They have 315 Class A sites and a large Camping World store next door with every camping gadget you can thing available. Tonight, we ate at the restaurant and watched the two NCAA Final Four games. They were both disappointing.

We plan on spending a couple of days here seeing the sites. By the way the temp is 75 degrees.

Another Day in Paradise

Friday, March 31st
We spent another day in the mountains around Sedona, and the sites were once again breathtaking. Here are two of the many photos we took. The first is Montezuma’s Castle, an 800 year old cliff dwelling. Many of the locations we visited are National Monuments which have an entrance fee. We purchased a 1 year National Parks Pass at the Grand Canyon for $50 which allows us entrance into all the National Parks throughout the country. We are now at the breakeven point.

The second photo was taken at the top of Schnebly Hill Rd. This stone and gravel road rises out of Sedona to over 7,000 feet and is extremely rough, narrow and steep in many areas. Our jeep was up to the task and made the ascent with ease. Tomorrow we head south towards Tucson, we think?

A Day for Enhancing Our Senses

What a great and informative day we had today and the scenery was awesome! We started out by visiting the once thriving town of Jerome. In its heyday, Jerome had a population of 15,000 and boasted the most advanced hospital in the state. In the mid 50’s however, the copper mine was closed and the town practically became a ghost town. Jerome is built on the side on the mountain and each street is 20-30ft higher than the next. Today the small population of 300 are artist, gift store and restaurant owners.

The most interesting part of the day came when we decided to take an off-road trip up Boynton Pass Trail. Our Off-Road guide book rated it a 2 in difficulty and 9 scenic rating. It is a very scenic trail over Boynton Pass through the heart of red rock country. Our first stop was at the Palatki cliff dwelling ruins. Their structures are pressed against natural alcoves in the cliff face. The 1000 year old site contains many pictographs. We had a special narrated tour by the ranger into sections that are normally off limits to the general public. Following the tour we continued on the trail to the Boynton Canyon vortex, reputed to enhance the senses, in particular, psychic senses and past life memories. Vortices are often used as meditation sites and thought to have spiritual qualities. After we were moved by the spirit we returned to our practical senses and headed back to the campground.

The Pinnacles of Sedona

The forecast was for on and off rain today, and they were right. Knowing this we decided to drive around the area and do a little shopping in Sedona. This is an absolutely gorgeous area, even in the rain. The red buttes and pinnacles are like nothing we have ever seen before. This photo does not fully depict the beauty of the area because of the rain. In between these drops, we visited two areas were the local Navajo Indians were selling their hand made jewelry and pottery. Tomorrow the forecast is for sun and warmer temperatures 75-80. We are looking forward to seeing more of the area lit by bright sunlight. We may also try our hand at navigating one of the many jeep trails.